


Tentatively

by shyserious



Series: Tentatively [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Animal Traits, Animalistic Behaviour, Animals, Awkward Harry, Biting, Cat Ears, Cat Louis, Cat/Human Hybrids, Cats, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cute, Feel-good, Feels, Happy, Happy Ending, Hugs, Hybrid Louis, Hybrids, Just nice and cute things, Kissing, Light Petting, M/M, Meet-Cute, No Plot/Plotless, Shy Harry, Snogging, Swearing, Sweet, There's some plot but it's just fluff and crushing, some - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-08
Updated: 2017-06-08
Packaged: 2018-11-11 11:06:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11147145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shyserious/pseuds/shyserious
Summary: The whole university was anxiously waiting for the final weeks of the semester to wrap up, the taste of the summer already hanging sweetly and tempting in the air. Harry was right there in the thick of it all, getting distracted by the very same feline-born he had been crushing on ever since the beginning of uni.Harry had absolutely no plans to ever approach the boy. Ever.But clearly the Universe (or the boy) wasn't a fan of Harry having any control over his own damn life.-Or, Louis is a feline-born, and Harry’s big dumb crush on him is so massive he doesn’t know what to do with himself.





	Tentatively

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
>  So. I wasn’t supposed to write this? I was supposed to be working on my another longer story today, yet suddenly I just had this- thing?  
>  There’s not much plot to this, I don’t think? I just felt like writing something easy and fluffy, and apparently that meant throwing in a feline Louis and a shy-ish, awkward Harry. 
> 
> I hope you like this, I’m a bit nervous posting again, but it feels nice to have something new out! 
> 
> -This is not beta’d, I'll be fixing mistakes as I find them. English is not my first language.  
>  Please, don’t post/translate to other websites(goodreads etc.) Disclaimer: none of this is real and this has nothing to do with real people. There’s literally a dude with cat-parts in this, jus' saying. :’)
> 
> [(Edit by me.)](http://shyshyserious.tumblr.com) xx
> 
>                                                                                 

Harry couldn’t keep his eyes off the boy. 

The library was full with uni students cramming in last minute preparations for the final exams, the desperation and stress thick in the air. Many of the tables were full; books and laptops spread out all over every available surface, tired looking people hunching over them. The setting sun was shining through the high windows, rudely letting everyone know how lovely the day had been while they were still stuck inside, surrounded by the stench of guilt from procrastination and failure.  

Harry knew he was lucky to only have one essay left, having finished his exams the day before. He was almost done with it too, just polishing some grammar and checking his referencing. Yet it wasn’t going too well, the focusing on the finishing touches.  

Harry kept catching himself staring, head leaned against one palm, and the cap of his USB stick pressed against his lips. The boy… 

 _Of course_ Harry knew who it was. Everyone in the school probably knew. Or they should, at least. _Louis._  

The boy was bright and vibrant, and so elegant and pretty it was almost painful. He was sharp and funny and a bit mean, but not in a _mean_ way. He just didn’t seem to bother making any effort to be nice if he was faced with bullshit and ignorance. Harry was secretly envious of Louis’ sarcastic and quick wit; he himself tended to fumble all over himself, trying to please everyone, even when they were being horrible to him.   

Louis definitely wasn’t a people pleaser, no. He had his selected few close friends, the group tighter than many of the university friendships that Harry had seen forming around him throughout the semesters. They were somewhat of an intimidating bunch, Louis and his friends. Well, to someone like Harry they were, at least. It wasn’t because they were snobbish or rude or anything, they just… Harry had never seen any of them be anything but polite, and nice and charming and confident and _gorgeous_ , and so out of Harry’s comfort zone and league that he had just willingly stuck to admiring from afar.  

And it wasn’t because Louis was a feline-born, why Harry kept watching. He wasn’t the only feline in the university, nor even the only one in his intimidating group of friends. Hell, Harry’s best friend growing up had been a feline-born. So no, Harry definitely wasn’t being awkward and creepily (carefully) staring for months, because of that. _Well_ , he wasn’t staring because he thought it was _bad,_ or disturbing, or something- or whatever some of those speciest fanatics were spouting. Quite the opposite. 

Louis was fucking stunning, alright? It was ridiculous. Fucking hell. 

Harry almost hated himself for how he had let his idiotic crush for this boy grow so massive. Didn’t he have any self-preservation? Clearly not.  

Yes, Harry was aware he was crushing hard (and by crushing he meant _crushing_ in a way that his heart was probably just a ground up flap of sad tendrils by now) but he wasn’t dumb with it. Harry was pretty good at keeping it under wraps; only allowing himself to feel the tingling feeling in his belly if he accidentally caught a glance of the older boy around campus. Sometimes that was just a few times a week, and other times it was almost like the feline was wherever Harry turned. It was still undecided which times he preferred.  

For some reason, the way Harry had dealt with his stupid crushes ever since he was a kid, was by digging a deep hole and hiding the whole thing there until it went away. Nothing terrified Harry more than the idea of _anyone_ finding out he fancied someone. He would probably cry if the one he was crushing on- _Louis,_ ever since the uni had started a few years ago- found out. Even the thought made him cringe horribly. 

Alright, the fact that his best childhood friend, the same feline one, had told their whole primary school class about Harry’s crush of the time, might have something to do with the way he dealt with his feelings… He could still recall crystal clearly how the whole thing had made everyone- including the said crush- laugh and tease him, childishly taunting him because _Ooh, Harry fancies someone, ha ha!_ Yes, _yes_ , it was dumb and silly and it had happened a long time ago, but it had _hurt_. It had hurt so devastatingly much to have all of his class mates and his first ever proper crush just parade all over his tentative and gentle and stupid childish feelings, and ever since Harry had been mortified by anything related to something like it.  

His mum always fondly told him that he was so sensitive and sweet. Harry wasn’t too sure of the sweet part, but he was painfully aware of the sensitivity. Fucking inconvenience, that was.   

It was safe to say that the tattletale childhood friend had stayed in the childhood… Harry had gone a bit more quiet after the whole humiliating ordeal, preferring to lurk in the sidelines and just observe- and that scarred friendship had just withered away. Now, as a young adult, and looking back, he knew it had been silly and wasn’t actually anything too serious. The kids in his class hadn’t even been mean, really. For some reason it had just felt like the end of the world for Harry.  

His heart had been so far out in his sleeve that it had been practically slipping down from his fingertips. When he suddenly had felt the panicked need to cram the sloppy thing back in as deep as it would go, he might’ve accidentally forced it so far back that it might never see the daylight again.  

The whole class had laughed, therefore, his feelings were embarrassing and  laughable. 

Solid logic, innit? 

Harry sighed, looking down to the screen of his laptop where the cursor was blinking at him at the end of a half-bullshitted sentence. He knew it wouldn’t take him long to finish the text, but to be honest, he was dreading it.  

Don’t get him wrong, okay? Harry was just as happy to finish for the summer as the next person but… Harry sighed again. 

He literally had nothing going on. Nothing. Once the last of the useless lectures would be done the next week, Harry would be just as useless. Just hanging about, doing nothing, but trying to seem like he was doing something because that’s how life went on.  

Harry didn’t have to work for the rent of his flat because he was so lucky- so, so _thankful_ , and lucky- that his parents were well off enough to pay for it, _and_ his degree. Harry was planning on volunteering for something, like he had done the previous summers, just to have something to do. Anything. Otherwise he would be sitting in his empty flat for the long, empty summer months before uni started again in September. 

Sure, Harry had some- _acquaintances_ from his courses, and people he said hello to when he passed them around campus and town, but that’s about it. To be completely honest, Harry mostly just hung out with his sister and his mum. That is, until they got busy with whatever, and then he would go home to his own flat and read a book or ten.     

Harry wasn’t _shy_ , really. He knew he wasn’t. He was loud and goofy and _funny!_ enough when around his family, and he knew that was how he really was. And that was also how he would’ve preferred to be always, around everyone. He was just… Careful.  

People liked Harry, in general. At least he hoped so. He tended to be too much of a people pleaser, yes, but that usually also meant that people got along with him easily. No one just had stuck with him quite yet, and Harry didn’t feel like wasting time on appearances. He liked spending time alone, too, didn’t mind getting lost in the books he kept hauling home from the library. But the whole summer was a bit too much, even for him.      

A whole summer of no Louis.  

Harry typed a sad face in the essay document. He pressed down long enough to have the sulky downwards curves fill up several lines, before he carefully deleted them all, and then saved the essay twice.  

It was no use to feel bad. It wasn’t like Harry was going to do something about it. He should just let the dumb bubbling thing inside his chest die down, and move on. Maybe next year he would meet some new people, and have less time to be a pathetic wimp. Not likely, as that was something he had already been hoping to happen the previous years, this one included, with not much luck. 

Harry typed a sour and sarcastic cry-laughing face next, then deleted that too, saving the file again.  

Four more references in the bibliography section got fixed, the punctuation corrected, and the dates double checked, before he was staring again. 

Harry wasn’t usually _that_ bad, honestly! It was just that- Louis was right _there_.  

Everyone in the library were busy, dark circles under their eyes, empty coffee mugs and energy drink cans and wills to live littered all over. The stress was almost touchable in the air conditioned air, and then there was Louis, _sleeping_.                

The boy was curled up on one of the cushioned benches against the wall. His Vans covered feet were up on it, leaving dust marks on the seat, and his curled up hands were tucked under his chest. From the soft looking messy hair, two dark and triangular ears were poking out, relaxedly tilting to the sides. Or, well, one of them was; the other was folded between the side of Louis’ head and the bag that was being used as a pillow. His tail was the same colour as the ears, dark brown with reddish undertones, and it was long and sleek in all of its short haired glory. The tail was resting over Louis’ legs, boneless, and kind of looking like it might slip over the edge of the seat at any moment. 

Harry sighed sadly. Louis was so unfairly pretty, even when he wasn’t aware of anything going on around him. He looked so snuggly and soft and cute, and Harry felt like a total loser-creeper-perv staring at him when he wasn’t conscious. _Ugh_. 

Harry pushed his laptop back to have space to knock his forehead against the table. Not loud enough for it to bother anyone but enough to have it sting for a bit. He had definitely earned it. Idiot.     

With a defeated huff Harry buried his face into the crook of his elbow. The position stretched out the muscles of the back of his neck nicely, his shoulders having gone stiff after being hunched over the laptop for hours.  

The last thing Harry remembered thinking before drifting to sleep, was that Louis was onto something with the whole sleeping in the library thing. It was comfortable and quiet, and Harry wasn’t stuck alone in his flat.

-

The windows were dark when Harry blinked his eyes open, confused and slightly spooked. 

There was a cleaning lady emptying a trash overflowing with snack papers and takeaway mugs, and the clank of the metallic lid was probably what had snapped Harry out of his dozing. 

The number of people nearby had lessened drastically, and when Harry poked at his laptop to light up the screen, it revealed that he had been napping for an hour and a half.  

Hiding his yawn in his shoulder Harry straightened up. His back was aching and muscles all over his body were protesting against the movement. With sleep-slow sweeps Harry pushed his curls away from his face and then stretched his arms towards the high ceiling.  

The library was open 24/7 during the exam and reading weeks but most of the students still preferred to go home to get some sleep. It was just a little past 9:00pm and the biggest hall on the top floor was quieting down, only a few brave souls sticking around along with Harry. Around the corner someone was printing something that sounded like a hundreds of pages, the sound of the printer echoey and tired.  

Harry yawned again, knuckling his left eye while shutting the laptop. He tugged his phone out of his pocket next, knowing he would have no notifications- he would’ve felt it even through the sleep- but he checked anyway. Nothing. 

Harry tossed the lifeless thing into his canvas bag, and turned to reach out for the laptop sleeve that he had left on the chair next to him. Lifting his gaze from the tabletop allowed his eyes to travel across the hall, effortlessly butchering any train of thought Harry might’ve been entertaining. Even his wrist was hanging limply in the air, half way reaching for the- whatever he had been reaching for.             

Louis’ tail had ended up on the floor, after all, the tip of it curving into a loose loop. The boy’s face was more hidden now, turned against the bag, and his fists had pushed up to rest under his chin instead.  

Harry would’ve probably whined out loud if something hadn’t caught his attention and effectively, thankfully, shut him up. 

On the table in front of Louis, on top of a sticker covered laptop, was a phone flashing with incoming texts. And calls. And then texts again. Whoever it was seemed impatient. 

Harry bit his lip, sleepily looking between the silently blowing up phone and the curled up feline. He was starting to detect a slight panic building inside his chest, quickly loosing any traces of the sleep that had just been lingering. 

Had it been literally anyone else in the world Harry wouldn’t have thought twice about getting up and waking them. Multiple, repetitive texts and calls were usually a sign of something important; could be an emergency, or summat.  

But Harry couldn’t just go up to _him_ , now could he? It was Harry’s only rule, too. Avoid until the feelings, or the person, goes away.  

Nothing would be going away if he actually _talked_ to Louis. 

This time Harry did whine out loud- out of pure frustration. The phone had gone dark for a few moments, but now it was blinking again, an incoming call flashing on the screen.  

Harry bit down harder on his bottom lip, glancing around to check if someone else might be looking like they could sort this out for him.  

No such luck. 

With a wavering inhale Harry stuffed his laptop into its sleeve, and then pushed it in his bag. He double checked that he still had his phone and keys, and the chargers for everything, and then stood up, kind of hoping he could somehow just sneak off. But it’s pretty difficult to sneak off from your own conscience… 

Harry decided to just turn off his brain for the next five minutes, or so, and started to tentatively worm his way to the sleeping boy.  

Harry was holding on to the straps of his canvas bag with both hands, ready to bolt away if it seemed like Louis might stir before Harry got all the way over there. How awkward would it have been if he saw Harry creeping around like that?  

Harry swallowed heavily.  

Just helping a fellow student out here, no biggie. Nothing much. Just. Helping Louis. Who was all soft, and sleeping and cute, and didn’t know Harry was harbouring the biggest, fattest, ugliest crush on him, and who was just perving on him while he slept. 

The phone on the table blinked out two more notifications, quietly lighting up the screen. Harry would’ve been close enough to read the names on the messages now, but he looked away, focusing on the blissfuly unaware Louis. 

Who didn’t magically just wake up when Harry slowed to a stop in front of him.  

Which… Could be a problem. Harry hadn’t thought this through. Clearly an obvious glitch in the ‘turn your brain off’ plan. 

So, Louis’ magical awakening, and then Harry just helpfully pointing at the phone before dashing away and out of the library, wouldn’t be happening. Great. 

Harry looked around nervously, already feeling too warm, and hoped no one was witnessing his distress. Didn’t seem like it.           

Shifting his weight from one foot to the other, Harry looked down at the sleeping form. He tried not to stare but, come on…  

“Um,” Harry whispered dumbly, “hey?” 

Nothing.  

Not even a hair in the usually so attentive brown ears twitched. Only Louis’ eyelashes were fluttering along with his dreams. Maybe it was a cat thing; being able to sleep so deeply anywhere without problems. 

Harry cleared his throat, leaning closer just a little bit. Not creepily! Just- _normally_. His fingers were kinda starting to hurt with the way he was hanging on the bag strap. 

“Louis?” Harry called softly, keeping an eye on anything that could let him know if the boy was waking up. “Um. Your phone…” 

He was laughably awkward. He would be cringing at this very memory for the rest of his life. 

Louis’ tail coiled, noiselessly curling up and back on top of the back’s of his legs, neatly lowering on his bum.  

Harry stared, frozen, and a bit spooked by the sudden, elegant movement. Then properly spooked because he had been staring at Louis’ bum.  

Rapidly blinking Harry snapped his eyes back to the boy’s face- to the still sleep-relaxed face.  

Harry sighed. This was horrible. 

“Louis?” he tried again, a bit louder. When there was no reaction, even after he had tried a few more times, Harry was sure the Universe was being nasty to him on purpose.  

Biting unnecessarily harshly on his cheek Harry forced his knees to bend, and he kneeled down by the bench.  

If someone ever asked, he would deny how much his hand was shaking when he unwrapped it from around the bag strap. No one would be asking anyway, he wouldn’t mention this to _anyone_. Ever.   

“Hey, Louis,” Harry hummed, softly pressing two of his fingers against the boy’s hoodie covered shoulder. Sure, whatever, just casually poking his crush. Who cares? 

Harry was pretty sure he’s cheeks were flaming by now. 

“Wake up, yeah?” he suggested like an idiot, while trying to wrack his brain for other things to say to a sleeping person. He had pretty much used all his ideas. “Louis?” 

The ear on the top twitched, tensing up, and turning towards Harry like a some sort of living TV-antenna.      

Harry had just been in process of nudging the boy again- the touch so careful it was barely there- and he stilled, suspiciously staring at the judging triangle.  

“Um?” Harry said, watching Louis’ ear twitch again. Then it was his tail, and then his nose.  

It was absolutely horrifying, and Harry barely managed to swallow his squeak when the blue eyes in front of him finally blinked open. 

“Huh?” Louis voiced gruffly, eyes bleary and confused, before they slowly focused on Harry.  

Harry felt like he was standing in the middle of the traffic, waiting for something to hit him, without being able to move out of the way.  

 _No_ , he wasn’t being dramatic, alright? This was- This wasn’t… _Ugh._  

“Hello,” Louis said, blinking, and then he yawned a little bit, one of his sharper canines peeking out from under his upper lip. Harry blinked back.  

 _Don’t stare, don’t stare, don’t stare…_  

“Uh, um,” Harry informed the boy, head ducking down for a second before he forced it back up again. _Don’t be awkward, don’t be awkward, don’t be aw—_ “Phone.” 

 _—kward._ Cool. Great! Fucking splendid. Look at you go, Styles.  

“Sorry?” Louis chuckled, eyes looking all crinkly and warm as he tilted his head to catch Harry’s anxiously bouncing gaze.  

Apparently Harry deserved the same expression most people saved for startled small animals. 

Fuck it, Harry would take it. He was desperate.  

“Your phone?” Harry managed to get out, his voice just a slow drawl. The words did their best getting stuck in his throat, coming out rough and tentative. “I think— Someone’s been trying to reach you for a bit, now.” 

“Shit!” Louis blurted out, startling Harry with it. The boy’s head snapped up from the pillow-bag, both of his feline ears pointing up sharply. The hair on the side of his head was sticking up, ruffled and fluffy. “Crap.” 

He was suddenly sitting all the way up, so quickly that Harry barely registered it. Instead he had to focus on not falling on his arse.  

Would’ve been just the icing on the cake, that.                        

“Noo,” Louis whined, already holding the phone in his fingers. He was tapping on it fast, his tail swishing in similar quick successions.  

Harry bit down on his lip again, although he wasn’t sure if he had ever stopped gnawing on it. He was already feeling like he was third wheeling- whatever this was.  

Before he had time to come up with the least humiliating way to get away unnoticed- or, like, just get up from kneeling on _the fucking floor-_ Louis had already dropped the phone on the seat next to his swaying tail.     

His eyes were kind of intense, the vertically slitted pupils holding Harry in place like nothing else. 

“Missed a movie,” Louis huffed, bottom lip pouting out childishly, yet it was doing nothing to lessen the sharp sting of his gaze. Harry’s mouth felt too dry. “Now they're trying to make me pay for another nap-penalty.” He huffed again, reaching to snag his stickered laptop from the table. “As if.”  

Harry was aware he must’ve pulled some sort of a sympathetic face because Louis shrugged as a reply, smiling at him. In reality Harry had no idea what his face was doing, or his brain. He just hoped it wasn’t anything too obviously horrified. 

“Thank you for waking me up,” Louis was saying, when Harry tuned back in from investigating his own facial muscles. The colourful laptop had been pushed inside the pillow-bag. “There should be another screening in a bit, though.” 

“Okay,” Harry said, because Harry was an idiot, and watched Louis scoop up his bag and his phone, and then Harry from the floor. “Good.” 

 _Good,_ Harry’s brain echoed, all nerve-endings pointedly raising their brows at him, pointing at his upper arm where Louis’ fingers were still curled around it. 

“What’s a nap-penalty?” Harry’s dumb mouth questioned before he was able to stop it. The rest of his head was stuck staring at the lingering hand on his arm.  

Louis snorted. 

“Apparently it’s a punishable offence to keep sleeping through meetings and lectures,” he grinned, sharp teeth flashing from behind his lips. “Three strikes in a week and I _‘have to pay’._ ” 

“How much is that, then?” Harry asked, his curiosity getting the best of him. He really should just leave. Although, he had to point out to himself, there was still a hand on his arm. Louis’ hand. On _Harry’s_ arm.  

“I wouldn’t know,” Louis laughed, face scrunching up with it, and his pink tongue peeking out from between his teeth, “I‘ve never paid.” 

Harry had to involuntarily take a break from his panicked overthinking as an amused hint of a smile pushed onto his face. He knew his dimples had popped when Louis’ eyes swooped down to check on them, his pupils thinning to tiny slits first, then expanding. He was probably also witnessing the rising flush all over Harry’s face at the same time…   

Louis’ phone flashed in his other hand; a new incoming call letting itself to be known. That was finally when the soft touch got removed from Harry’s arm, somehow knocking him back to reality again. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Louis complained into the cell after bringing it up to his human ear, answering the call.  

Harry had never quite understood how that worked, the two pairs of ears thing. Apparently the triangular ones were too sensitive for sticking a phone all up in there. Or sometimes other loud electronics, or any irking noises for that matter, were too much for the feline senses. It was curious. Harry wanted to ask about it, kind of a lot- and about other things too- but he had already asked one question too many. He was supposed to be inching away, not curling in. 

“I’ll be there in a minute,” Louis insisted into the phone, rolling his eyes amusedly while smiling up at Harry. “In. A. Minute.” 

Harry adjusted the canvas bag’s straps properly over his shoulder where it had been sliding down, and stepped back, just a tiny bit. See? He was strong and capable. 

“I wasn’t sleeping!” Louis gasped, eyes widening innocently. “No. I was studying, Liam. In the _library_.” Harry had to look down to his shoes to hide the overly fond smile. He didn't know Louis well enough to be caught fonding all over him, he was being embarrassing as it was. “Who comes to sleep in a library? Don’t be daft.”  

Harry snorted quietly, but apparently loud enough for it to be picked up by Louis. Maybe it was one of the twitching TV-antennas on the sides of his head that had snitched on him? Either way, Harry got smacked softly in the chest for it, and then got a faux-grumpy look to go with it. Well, Harry really hoped it was faux-grumpy. Like, _really, really_.  

“Whatever,” Louis said into the phone, looking around the table and the bench he had been napping on, checking he hadn’t left anything behind. “I’ll see you there. Yeah. Yes. Fine. Okay, bye. Bye, Liam!”  

Louis was shaking his head as he brought the phone down, muttering to himself something about Liam that Harry couldn’t hear.  

Harry knew he should’ve already been long gone by now, but for some reason he was stuck to the spot. It wasn’t completely his fault, though! Louis had been- _looking_ at him. Yes. That meant they had been communicating. Right? While Louis was on the phone. Communicating. With his friend…  

Harry had been making it all awkward, hadn’t he? He should’ve just left after making sure Louis was awake. He knew he would muck this up somehow.       

“You could join us if you want?” Louis said next, startling Harry again, a bit. A lot, actually. Like, what? 

Harry’s heart missed a beat, or two.  

“Oh,” he mumbled, eyes at tad bit too wide to be just casual, which was the look he had aimed for. “Um, no, I… I have to finish an essay for tomorrow.” Was he really declining this offer? Right, yes he was. Because he didn’t have a crush on Louis. And he _did_ have an essay to be finished for tomorrow. Who would want to go to the movies with Louis anyway? _Psh_. Not Harry. “Thank you, though.” 

He barely remembered to tack the last bit in there but he was so glad he did, because Harry wasn’t rude. He was a lot of unfortunate things, but never rude.  

Louis’ tail swished behind him once, twice, before curling around his nicely muscled thigh. Everything about Louis was just _nice._ From his tight, compact body to his attentive, slim slitted pupils and blue eyes. Just, _nice, nice, nice_.  

“Alright,” Louis smiled, shrugging. He slipped his phone in the front pocket of his skinny jeans. “Next time then?” 

“S-sure?” Harry stuttered. _Stuttered._ No wonder he was spending his summer friendless, he couldn't even function in a normal social situation. Harry tugged at a curling strand of hair by his ear anxiously.  

“Great!” Louis grinned, eyes squeezing almost shut with it. One of his sharper canines was pressing out against his bottom lip again.  

Then he was suddenly all up in Harry’s space, arms wrapping around his middle in a short, electrifying hug. Harry’s chin got headbutted by a tuft of messy hair, and a tickling furry ear pressed hotly into his cheek.  

Harry’s brain shut down.    

“Thank you again!” Louis was calling out, already halfway across the hall, back bag bouncing against his shoulders, and tail swaying like a weightless fabric in the air behind him. “See you around, Harry!” 

Harry wasn’t proud to admit, even to himself, that by the time he had been able to reboot his brain, and he had finally realised that Louis had actually called him by his name, it was already 3:00am.  

The odd wimpy-whimpering sound rolled around the empty flat like a bunch of escaped marbles; loud and ready to trip him just when he least needed it.  

Gosh, he was embarrassing.    

\-    

“Hey!” someone was calling from amongst the thinning sea of students travelling towards the very last lectures of the year. “Hey! Harry! Curly-Harry!” 

Alright. That was quite specific. That could be him, to be honest, but he was pretty sure he hadn’t forgotten his keys into the lecture hall this time or— 

“Harry!” the someone called again, right before tackling Harry.  

“Oops, sorry!” Harry hurried to say out of habit, trying to figure out what was going on. Someone was curled around his arm. “Sorry!” 

“Are you really apologising for being attacked?” the someone- okay, Harry _knew_ it was Louis, but that just wasn’t something that happened, so- _the someone_ laughed. It was a nice sound. For a random stranger octopussing his arm in the middle of the campus.  

Harry looked towards the person carefully, out of the corner of his eye first, and then properly. Fair enough. It was Louis. Smirking teasingly up at him.  

Harry realised he was fish mouthing, and Louis clearly thought it was amusing.

“Oh,” Harry rushed to say, “I- um. I guess, yeah?” 

“Interesting,” Louis nodded, crinkles forming by his eyes. His left feline ear kept turning and twisting, following the sounds of the passing people. The right one was intimidatingly pointing at Harry, almost unnervingly attentive. “Here.” 

Louis magicked a large takeaway cup from wherever he had been hiding it- clearly not in his eyes where Harry had been stuck for the past minute- and pushed it in Harry’s not-occupied hand.      

“Large americano with almond milk,” Louis announced, watching Harry gawp at the introduced beverage. “I figured you might like that.” 

“Oh! Wow,” Harry breathed out, his reaction time once again slowed down by the sheer force of- Well, all of _Louis_ , really. “That’s actually my usual.”  

Harry blinked bewilderedly down at the warm drink in his hand, glad to have something to hold on to, to mask the slight nervous termor in his fingers.  

“Hm, really?” Louis asked breezily, steering Harry away from the busiest pathway. Harry nodded his head but before he managed to formulate an answer he felt something touching his belly.  

The something was curling from behind his back and around his waist, pushing into the front pocket of his uni hoodie. Louis huffed, looking away. 

“Ignore it,” he ordered, pulling at Harry’s arm to keep him following. They were crossing the campus’ green area now, right through the large grass field, the old oak trees offering them shadow. “The bloody thing has a mind of its own, I swear.” 

 _It_ was Louis’ tail, Harry realised. They were also kind of going in the opposite direction of where his semester’s last lecture was supposed to be starting in just a few short moments. That realisation didn’t really stick as much as the tail one, for some reason. The tip of it was pressing into Harry’s belly through the fabrics of his hoodie and t-shirt.      

“Okay,” Harry said, not knowing what else to say. It had Louis looking pleased, so, whatever.  

Also, the feline was leading him up some spiral stairway at the side of an unfamiliar campus building, which Harry could swear he had never seen in his life. The building _nor_ the stairway. Harry was honestly getting a bit dizzy with all this. 

He decided to distract himself with a sip from the coffee, burning his mouth while he was at it.   

“I just wanted to thank you,” Louis said as he pulled open a door that looked more like a storage door, or a back door, rather than one they should be using. “You know, for waking me up the other day, and all.” 

“It really wasn’t a problem,” Harry found himself bumbling, trying to figure out where they were, or where they were heading, while also handling the warm tail around his belly, and the cute boy hugging his whole arm.  

“I, of course, wasn’t really sleeping,” Louis continued, as if Harry hadn’t said anything. He was busy being tugged along down some short stairs and behind a corner of a hallway, anyway. “In case Liam ever asks.”  

“Right,” Harry agreed. And then blinked.  

They were standing right outside the lecture hall where Harry had been heading to, having been trailing after a group of people from his course before Louis had snatched him. _The same_ group of people that was just walking up to the main doors all the way across the long hallway. But—? 

“See you later, Harry!” Louis grinned at him, his tail tightening its hold for a second before it was gone. And then so was the rest of him, disappearing back behind the corner they had just came from.  

Harry stared. 

“Styles,” someone called out, holding the door of the lecture hall open.  

It was a sporty looking girl Harry remembered borrowing a pen from once. He also remembered it wasn’t polite to have people hanging from the doors for him, when he was apparently the last one to enter. Last one, no matter how fast Louis had transported them into the right building through the shortcut.  

I didn’t even thank for the drink, Harry thought as he rushed inside. He threw a confused smile at the girl who rolled her eyes, quite fondly, at him, clearly used to the somewhat distracted wandering of Harry’s. 

There were a lot of seats open in the hall, not that many bothering to show up on the last day, anymore. Harry slumped down into the nearest empty spot, turning the still hot drink in his hands, staring at it confusedly.  

The lecturer had already started to talk about something, but it could’ve been about anything, for all he knew.  

Harry was too busy blinking at the scribbled phone number and the short message curving along the bottom of the cup. 

 _Let me know when you’re up for that movie. Lxx_  

 _-_  

Harry had obviously decided to never text Louis, even though he was going to save and cherish that large takeaway cup for the rest of his sad existence. His bookshelf was not an altar, though, _fuck you very much, Gemma_. 

All that being said, Harry reckoned it was an A plus for the effort that he managed to hold off from texting him for a _whole_ week.  

After that- he didn’t really know what happened.  

It seemed like a common occurrence around Louis, who just snatched the control out of Harry’s useless hands and demanded him to follow. Well, without actually demanding anything. It just kind of happened. Harry would’ve probably jumped into the freezing cold pond in the middle of the campus if the feline boy as much as looked towards it.  

Maybe he should anyway. Might clear his dumb head a bit. 

“—and then Zayn showed that part in the comics and it _was_ the complete opposite of how it was in the movie!”     

Louis had insisted he didn’t mind seeing the same movie twice, and Harry had been up for anything. The fast paced superhero flick was visually impressive and interesting enough to watch all the way through, even though it probably wasn’t his number one genre in movies. 

Louis was excited though, going through his favourite parts and dropping some info his best mate, who liked comics, had been sharing after the first viewing.  

It was cute. Louis was cute. Harry still didn’t know if this was a date or not. 

He didn’t let himself hope. 

“Wanna hang out at mine for a bit?” Louis asked then, bouncing on the balls of his feet, clever fingers tugging at the hem of Harry’s thin and flowy button-up shirt.  

He still didn’t let himself hope. 

“Yeah, okay,” Harry answered, smiling softly as Louis’ face lit up, a hint of a flush visible on his sharp cheekbones.   

The inside of Louis flat was quite like the boy himself: chaotic and all over the place, yet it somehow still made perfect sense.  

Harry wasn’t allowed a lot of time to get used to his surroundings, though.  

If Louis had been tactile in the movie theatre- kind of climbing halfway in Harry’s seat, feet tangling over Harry’s knees, and sneaky fingers in Harry’s popcorn- it was nothing compared to the way he was confidently planting himself in Harry’s lap on the couch. 

Harry made a surprised noise in the back of his throat, hands hanging midair by Louis’ sides.  

The boy was quick to curl on top of him, socked feet hanging over the edge of the couch and his knees resting on the cushions, one on each side of Harry’s hips. His head was ducking down under Harry’s chin, the fur on his ears sweeping against Harry’s cheeks when they turned.  

His nose was chilly against Harry’s skin, too, and when Harry slowly tried to figure out where to put his hands, the boy _actually, honestly, shockingly_ hissed at him? Just before his palms were able to rest _respectfully_ down on the couch?  

Harry’s heart was leaping out his chest, painfully so, and his eyes were wide when Louis leaned back enough to squint at him accusingly.  

Harry’s Adam’s apple bobbed with a heavy swallow. The eye contact lasted at least for a forever. 

“No, Harry,” Louis’ tone was light when he finally spoke, but it didn’t really leave space for arguing. “On _me_.”   

“Uh,” Harry said, rendered stupid once again, and curled his open palms over Louis’ soft hips, like a tragicomic marionette. 

“Hm,” Louis purred, ducking back to snuggle against Harry’s chest. Louis. _Purred_. “Better.” 

“Uh-huh,” Harry nodded, in reality having no idea what Louis was up to. Although. About that thing how Harry had decided not to let himself hope for this to be a date? Yeah, that. That thing was gone now. Fucking _bye_. 

Took him a solid five minutes to lose his self control. Figures. 

Louis was purring against his chest, nose nuzzling into his throat, and he was doing this soft little kneading thing with his hands, pressing gently down on Harry's belly. 

Harry didn't dare to move a muscle, too afraid to break the moment. What if he woke up now? Harry would honestly cry. 

“You’re not much of a talker, are you?” Louis asked softly from where he was making some tiny snuffling sounds against Harry’s collarbones. His tone wasn’t accusing, or judging, just curious.  

So obviously Harry managed to get irrationally anxious over it. 

“I am,” Harry blurted out, fingertips pressing a bit more securely into Louis’ hips. “I- I mean, I do talk. I just don’t… I guess I’m just…” 

“You’re just what?” Louis prompted, when Harry trailed off. The kneading of his belly got more- well, _more._ More in a way that Harry reckoned his skin was already a bit red from it. It was _nice._   

“Jus’ a bit nervous, I suppose,” Harry muttered softly, all the rush of his previous, stammering attempt gone. He didn’t really feel too embarrassed, which was surprising. But the way Louis was rubbing his cheek against Harry’s shoulder, purring and warm, was probably a big enough distraction from the humiliating feelings.   

“Why’d you be nervous?” Louis asked, innocently. Too innocently.  

Harry knew he was obvious with his crush, had been all along, no matter how hard he had tried to hide it. He knew Louis knew; suspected that he had possibly known already, even before Harry had ended up waking him up in the library. And he was also pretty sure that Louis knew that Harry knew that Louis knew. So basically, the cat was just being mean. 

“Don’t be mean, Lou,” Harry huffed, cheeks turning red in a way that warmed up his whole body.  

Louis chattered at him, the noise a peculiar series of short and quick high-pitched bursts. His ears ended up doing this breezy twitchy thing, before returning back to their upright position, resting against Harry’s blushing cheeks. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Louis insisted, digging his fingertips harder in Harry’s belly. His tail was swooshing side to side behind him, the feeling of it tickling against Harry’s shins even through the fabric of his jeans. 

“Yes you do, kitty—” Harry said, almost congratulating himself for kind of sassing back, before backtracking so fast he could almost hear the imaginary breaks screeching, “Oh gosh, sorry! That’s- Sorry… Forget I said that.” 

Louis peeked back up from where he had been burrowing himself. He looked amused, and his kneading thing kept going undistracted. 

“What?” he chuckled, shaking his head slightly, and then left it tilted. His pupils were a little bit blown, taking more and more space from the blueness of his irises. He was stunning. “That you called me a kitty?” 

Harry cleared his throat, wincing a little. _Here we go._ “Yeah, I… Um, I know not everyone likes that… Being called a cat, and those kind of things.” 

Harry looked down, shoulders hunching. That had been quite insensitive of him. He knew better. Had known better since nursery. He just had to keep mucking this up, didn’t he? 

Then, Louis bit him on the hinge of his jaw, right where his skin was the most sensitive.  

He didn’t let go until Harry whined out loud, the slight sting of his little canines more startling than anything. 

Louis licked his lips, pleased, as he leaned back. 

“Are you quite finished?” Louis had his brows raised, clearly unimpressed.  

Harry rubbed the tingling spot on his jaw with his shoulder, a pout escaping and parading all over his face without his conscious consent. He let out a sound. Apparently it was agreeing enough, because Louis nodded. 

“Good,” he said, finally abandoning Harry’s thoroughly kneaded tummy, and sneaked his fingers in his curls instead. “ _I_ like being called that,” he sniffed, seemingly uninterested. Harry still noticed him inching closer, if that was even possible with the way they were pressed together. “You should call me that. Or whatever.” 

He said the last part quite flippantly, but Harry saw the flush dusting his cheekbones spread out a bit darker. He didn’t dare to comment though, especially not after Louis had his curls wrapped into his fists, tugging experimentally.  

Harry breathed out heavily through his nose, letting his head fall back against the backrest of the couch, easily following the direction of Louis’ pulling.  

“I think we were talking about how I didn’t know what you were talking about,” Louis informed, ridiculously, tugging at the fistfuls of Harry’s curls in a way that had his eyes drooping closed at the feeling, lips parting.  

Louis made an interested little sound at that, tugging some more.  

“Yeah,” Harry managed to say, starting to feel a bit too hot all over. His voice was rough and Louis was grinning sharply down at him when he blinked his eyes back open. “You know what I was talking about, _kitten._ ” 

“I do,” Louis purred right away, hands starting the kneading thing against Harry’s scalp. He was somehow able to rub the whole front of his chest against Harry’s, too, and fuck, it was kind of hot. Okay, not ‘kind of’. It _was_ hot.  

Louis looked like he knew exactly what he was doing to him.  

His tail had curled around Harry’s left ankle at some point, the soft weight of it grounding.  

“You _fancy_ me,” Louis stated, eyes blown nearly all black, and his lips looking bitten and red. His tone was almost accusing, once again having Harry’s head spin with all these sudden turns.  

He looked like he was stalking a prey. 

“Y-yeah,” Harry answered, stuttering a bit, but it came out firm enough to show that he was standing behind that statement. There was no point in lying at this point, really. He was already pinned down to the couch by the very same boy he hadn’t had any plans to ever even talk to, just a short few weeks ago.    

“I like _you_ ,” Louis informed lowly. Growled. That sound was a growl. Harry’s stomach dropped, in a good way, and Louis tugged at his hair some more. He was being a bit more forceful with it now, but not hurtful. “I like that you like me.”

“Okay, yeah,” Harry breathed out, almost inaudible, staring into Louis’ darkened eyes. The way the blackness of his vertical pupils expanded and moved was hypnotising.

“I’m going to kiss you now,” was what came next.

“Oka- _oh._ ” 

Louis’ longer canines pressed briefly against Harry’s lips, before his head was directed to tilt to the side by a handful of curls- and then it was just soft lips and tentative tongue.        

Harry’s chest vibrated with the force of Louis’ loud purring, and the way their bellies were pressing together had Harry’s arms acting up on their own accord; rising and winding behind Louis’ back, pulling him in.

The feline arch of Louis’ back was so attractive under Harry’s clumsy-feeling palms, that it had him accidentally let a broken, low groan escape from his throat.

Louis mewed at the sound, almost too quietly for Harry to hear over the rumbling purr, and squirmed in his lap. Louis tilted Harry’s head back some more then, his clever tongue pressing against Harry’s pillowy lower lip with new vigour.  

When they finally pulled apart- some fifteen or twenty minutes later- both of their chests were raising and falling rapidly, cheeks blushing, and a sheen of sweat clinging to their skins.  

Harry was blinking dumbly, trying to catch his breath, and organise his thoughts to understand that this was really happening.  

Louis clearly wasn't having such hindering problems.

“Pet,” he ordered, licking his lips, and arching his back against Harry's arms, sticking his bum out, too, while he was at it.

Being the polite boy that he was, Harry didn’t think twice before he was already running his palms up and down Louis’ heated back, fingertips pressing into the soft curve and dip of his flexible spine.  

He watched in amazement how a content relaxation washed over Louis’ features.

Harry felt how the kneading started up again when he pressed his fingers a bit deeper into the lean muscles of Louis’ shoulders. He watched how the soft, sleek ears pressed back and down for a second in unabashed enjoyment, when Harry gently scratched up under his shirt, at the base of his spine.  

He _watched_ and _watched_ and _watched_ , and Louis just basked preening under his awed gaze and his tireless petting, purring.

Harry couldn’t believe he finally had this, even if it would be just for this little unreal evening. Couldn’t believe that he finally got to just _touch_ and that he didn’t have to hide the way he wanted to keep watching.     

This time Harry dared to let himself hope for _more,_ though.

He had Louis’ own words as a guarantee, and if the way his chest was being kneaded told him anything, Louis was quite pleased to be right there. His back was arching beautifully, eyes squeezed shut as Harry raked the tips of his fingers up and down right over the soft haired base of his tail, just above the waistband of his jeans. He was _pleased_ , and squirming, even more so when Harry pressed all the kitten-related names he could think of against his warm, lovely neck. 

For the first time ever, since that silly, yet horrifying mishap in the stupid primary school, Harry didn’t care if people would find out about his massive, devastatingly crushing crush.  

And if the way he was feeling for Louis; the nearly overflowing bubbling adoration, was any indication?

He might even have to be the very first one to announce it out to the world, letting absolutely _everyone_ know.

 

**Author's Note:**

> (Shoutout to my faves: Magical Realism and Animal Traits.)
> 
> Fluff is lovely. So are you.  
> Thank you xx
> 
> shyshyserious.tumblr.com  
> sshyserious@gmail.com


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